Get your big suit on and join me, Dr. Z and Michael Parr for the latest episode of the Blerd Radio podcast. In this installment, the three of us are talking about 1983’s Speaking In Tongues, the most commercially successful studio album by new wave legends Talking Heads. A million-seller, Tongues was an MTV favorite that spawned the quartet’s only top ten pop single, “Burning Down The House”. It also spawned a host of warmly remembered songs that have become classics in the ensuing decades; the funky “Girlfriend Is Better”, the shuffling groove of “Slippery People”, and the tender “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”.
This podcast acknowledges the relatively commercial bent of Speaking In Tongues (relative to Talking Heads’ earlier work) and explores how the album’s sound combined with the band’s visual presentation to ensure success. We also talk about the Talking Heads-related side project Tom Tom Club (featuring band members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth), and how that album’s unexpected success paved the way for Tongues. We shout out P-Funk keyboard legend, the recently deceased Bernie Worrell (who played a huge role in Tongues), and explore the album’s foray into funk, further assisted by LaBelle’s Nona Hendryx and The Brothers Johnson’s Alex Weir. Props are given to the Staple Singers (who covered “Slippery People), Dave Matthews Band (who have covered “Burning Down The House” live on several occasions), and a ton of artists who have covered “This Must Be The Place”, a song that deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame of love songs.
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